Local boy appears on PAX

Jared Wagner is looking for life beyond American Idol. No, he hasn’t made it to the show yet – he’s not old enough to audition – but he hopes his career makes it past the talent competition phase.

At 15, he’s already a three-time veteran of “America’s Most Talented Kids,” a nationally televised talent competition that switched from NBC to PAX.

“When you go into something like (‘Talented Kids’), all these people are exactly the same as you,” Wagner said from his home in Newport.

“They have the same dreams and the same kind of lifestyle as you do. I think as far as competing against the people that are on (‘American Idol’) now, I would fit right in.”

PAX airs tonight at 8 p.m. a re-run of the most recent episode of “Talented Kids” in which Wagner participated. The show, which was taped in December, originally ran March 13. Wagner performs “Money” – not a Pink Floyd cover but one Wagner penned himself for his latest self-titled album, available at Hastings and Borders in Spokane, as well as www. jaredwagner. com.

“It’s basically telling you that you can buy anything in the world, but you can’t buy love,” he said.

He didn’t win, but he’s still positive about his performance.

“I have to say that when I was doing it for NBC, I was going through a voice change, so it was kind of hard to sing,” he said. “This year was really good.”

In addition to entering many contests, the budding country singer has become a fixture singing the national anthem at area rodeos, as well as opening for acts such as Black Hawk and Mark Chesnutt on the state and county fair circuit.